Traditional Hesalite or Sapphire Sandwich for your Moonwatch?

sapphire sandwitch. pretty much because sapphire is more scratch resistant and also you can see the beautiful movement. but i put budget first on the consideration

Try both, buy what you like. Much debated topic, but I prefer the versatility and looks of the sapphire sandwich. 

Sapphire sandwich!  @Unholy has nailed it.  Scratch resistance plus visibility of the gorgeous 3861 movement.  

Plus, all your f*cking ribbing has actually convinced me to change my f*cking handle.

Sapphire sandwich.  Classic looks with the updated tech as found in the movement.

The handles are yours if you go to settings now.

Oh, dude, even though you're constantly bullying me, let me make the same offer with regard to the Moonwatch.  If you don't already have someone who will give you killer discount and 0% sales tax, I can make intros for you to my dealer.

Instead of changing watches every other day, I just realized I’ve been changing user names every other day as a proxy. 

Sapphire sandwich for me. And I live 45 min from Kennedy Space Center. It's awesome. Enjoy!

I chose the sapphire sandwich, mostly due to the display caseback and a preference for the scratch resistance of sapphire, but also because I actually prefer the crisp, clean look of the sapphire version. While I agree that there are some edges that are a tad on the sharp side, it is actually one of the most comfortable watches I own.

Sapphire sandwich for me as I am very clumsy and I always knock my watch on things even though I am already extra careful 😂😂😂

I really like the sapphire sandwich for seeing that awesome movement, but I’d probably choose hesalite. Both for the cost savings and I think that solid case back is really cool looking 

I got the sapphire sandwich 3861. The 3861 to me is a modern re-imagination (in #seiko terms lol) not a reissue of the original moonwatch. I would want to have the latest tech including scratch resistant sapphire crystal and META approved movement. If you are a purist and wish to be historically correct, you should go for 321, which doesn't come with a hesalite option. 

The applied logo, polished center links in the bracelet, see-through caseback are worth the additional cost.

Difficult decision, can't go wrong either way. :)

If I could buy either tomorrow, the sapphire. I'm ok with it not being the actual model worn on the moon plus the improvements make it a better watch 

However, since I'll likely have to be budget conscious when the time comes, I will be buying the Speedy Reduced with the Hesalite

Sapphire all the way. Scratching that baby up in this day and age. I’m not going through that hassle. 

Sapphire sandwich is a lot more practical 

Sapphire all the way. I very much wanna see the machine and it’s worth the view. And JLC IS the GS of Switzerland. Nice call. 

My $0.02:

I‘d recommend getting a 1861 if you are going for authenticity.  Those were, and still are (for now) “working watches” that are officially kitted and used on space missions.

For a 3861, I’d go Sapphire Sandwich (I have one).  It’s an impressive update but ultimately a luxury watch that will go into space as a vanity item (on the wrists of billionaires and their lackeys) but not as an official mission critical instrument.  

In this day and age, a luxury watch should have a sapphire crystal.  Regarding the exhibition caseback, the Speedmaster Pro is one of the few manual wind watches in its tier so you don’t have a pesky rotor blocking 50% of the view so well worth having a window into the movement. 

Unlike the previous 1861/1863 generation, the movement in the 3861 is the same for Hesalite and Sapphire.

The Moonwatch was my grail for the "moon" part so I would (and did) get the Hesalite (in case NASA calls b/c, you know, sapphire can shatter which is not good in zero g). Plus a little Polywatch clears any Hesalite scratches really well.  

Getting the sapphire is like getting a Dive watch without a screw down crown or just 100M of water resistance. I know that screw down crowns and more than 100M are mostly prized by desk divers (since 40m is about as far as actual recreational divers go and the gaskets are what really provide water resistance) but I'm a "Desk Astronaut" so I care a lot.

This is really a timely discussion because the one time I went to the office this month, one of my co-workers had a Speedy that he just got and it was a Hesalite sandwich. He said he looked for 6 months to find a good example.  Now I have a new watch buddy to geek out with (and someone I am intensely jealous of at the same time). 

Hesalite sandwich might the best of both worlds (Hesalite up front and Sapphire party in the back).

It’s a bit of a pet peeve of mine but it’s often repeated that NASA picked hesalite over sapphire because sapphire can shatter into a million pieces and endanger astronauts and delicate equipment in space. As a point of clarification though, there are plenty of modern watches with sapphire crystals qualified and used by NASA, including the Speedmaster X-33 which is standard issue to astronauts on the ISS.

Sapphire was simply not a crystal option for most tool watches produced in the 60s during the NASA trials and hesalite/acrylic was the standard.

Thanks for the heads up. I have read the shatter thing so much that I believed it. 

I have no idea whether the "shatter" explanation is true or not but fortunately even if it is not true, I would still be happy with my Hesalite Speedy because I grew up in Houston during the Apollo era and wanted the Hesalite to match the historic versions worn by my heroes back then.

For what it's worth, Omega (could all be marketing) answers the why hesalite question in its FAQ online as follows: "The Speedmaster Professional is worn by astronauts in outer space. When NASA chose this watch, they requested a hesalite crystal, which "unlike a sapphire crystal" does not break into tiny fragments on impact. This feature is very important for astronauts, as the tiny fragments of a broken sapphire crystal would pose a danger in a zero-gravity environment." 

Also, while sapphire crystals were used in watches since the 30s (including in Omega's first dive watch), I don't think any of the tool watches that were tested came with a sapphire crystal back then.

In any case, the only watch today that is qualified by NASA to be in vacuum (to go outside the ship or station) is still the mechanical Speedy Pro (I wonder if this now includes the sapphire version too).  The X-33 is only allowed inside.  

The true "desk astronaut" in me wants a watch that can go outside in space so I again pick the Hesalite to be safe (but I want an X-33 too for "indoor" use). 

Here is some fun TLDR reading about mechanical vs. digital in the vacuum of space from the NASA tester himself (https://revolutionwatch.com/reliving-history-with-james-ragan-nasas-man-behind-the-moonwatch/):

“We had an astronaut or two that wanted a digital watch and so they would come to me and I said, ‘It’s never going to work, you’re not going to have one.’ If it was only on the inside you’re all right, but not outside. But why? I had to test for zero to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. At the time they had two watches, one was an LED watch which would bother the battery. And once you got it out in the sunlight, you couldn’t read the LED because the liquid got so hot it flowed so fast you couldn’t read it. It looked like there was nothing on there. And when it got so cold, it froze and you couldn’t read it either. So there’s no way of doing it unless we’re just going to keep it on the inside. The Omega X-33 Skywalker is only allowed to be used on the inside. The only watch today that’s qualified to go outside is the Omega chronograph.”

I went for Hesalite, but it was not an easy call. I mulled it over for a long time and finally decided that authenticity would win out. But it was definitely like a 51% to 49% decision. No regrets, nor would I have had regrets if I had gotten the sapphire. 
 

(However, you don’t get this with Sapphire)🤣

This is so cool.  Thanks for putting this reply together @Rocketfan!  I’ve been wondering about the LCD in space thing for a while and now I know! 

Agree that the Speedmaster Pro was the only watch qualified by NASA for EVAs.  However, I don’t think anyone’s gotten a shot of one strapped to an NASA astronaut on EVA since the Space Shuttle days so probably no longer part of the standard kit.  I think that’s why Omega got a little squirrelly with the 3861 hesalite caseback that now says “flight qualified by NASA in 1965 for all manned space missions.”

I think there are fairly recent pictures of Speedmasters strapped to the suits of Russian cosmonauts though. 

All in all, whether Hesalite or Sapphire Sandwich, you can’t go wrong with either choice… that is until Omega releases the Speedy Mullet (business in the front, party in the back) again.

The other Omega sales statement you’ll hear around Moonwatches a lot is that it’s manual wind because an automatic won’t work in space. (They do work fine in space, and it’s not hard to find examples of astronauts and cosmonauts wearing automatics on missions.)

Here’s what I love about the comments on this thread… My personal preference is for the sapphire, though I “get” the appeal of the Hesalite and wouldn’t turn my nose up at one if the deal was right. It’s interesting to me to see just how many people also have an affinity for the sapphire crystal version. I was expecting about 70% Hesalite, 30% sapphire in the comments.

hesalite for me, as i prefer the all brushed bracelet of the hesalite and the  hesalite glass heritage.

What really convinced me, was that my wife didn't like the sapphire version in the flesh. She pointed out that it was more of a luxury version and less toolwatch and that it was somehow off.

I looked at both side by side and chose hesalite. 

Proud owner of a sapphire sandwich. To me it’s the best of both worlds in a watch: the heritage of an icon with the perks of modern refinement. 

I wonder how much and how easy it would be to replace the hesalite if you get that one. If it is a concern it would put me at ease if it is easy and cheap for scratched that Polywatch won’t fix. Share what you pick!

I own a hesalite and love it. I feel that, as the only modern luxury watch with a plastic crystal, it is unique in my collection, Also, I like the visual and tactile warmth of the hesalite. That said, I wouldn’t reject a sapphire sandwich out of hand.